Tracks News - In this section you'll find news from cities around the country as well as interviews and general reporting on issues. It might be from a newspaper or a blog, but it counts as news.
TRANSPORT
California: Engineers Questions HSR Oversight
San Jose Mercury News
As California prepares to embark on its largest public works project in decades, a union that represents state engineers is questioning whether all the construction work will be thoroughly scrutinized...

Tracks News - In this section you'll find news from cities around the country as well as interviews and general reporting on issues. It might be from a newspaper or a blog, but it counts as news.
TRANSPORT
Charlotte: Budget Battle Stops at Streetcar
Charlotte Observer
In Charlotte's budget fight, perhaps the biggest sticking point has been a proposal to spend $119 million on a streetcar through uptown...

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National: Boehner, Reid Fail to Break Deadlock
Reuters
U.S. congressional leaders failed on Tuesday to break a deadlock on a long-stalled transportation funding measure, and Republicans may now have to detach from the bill approval of the controversial…

Executive Summary
The federal government, through various transportation acts, such as the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA), the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), and, more recently, the Safe, Affordable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act—A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), has reinforced the need for integration of land use and transportation and the provision of public transit. Other federal programs, such as the Livable Communities Program and the New Starts Program, have provided additional impetus to public transit. At the state and regional level, the past three decades have seen increased provision of public transit. However, the public transit systems typically require significant operating and capital subsidies—75 percent of transit funding is provided by local and state governments.1 With all levels of government under significant fiscal stress, new transit funding mechanisms are welcome. Value capture (VC) is once…

Contra Costa cities are vowing to fight a plan signed by Gov. Jerry Brown this week to use money earmarked for local revitalization to plug the state deficit. Brown has endorsed two bills: One dissolves the state's nearly 400 redevelopment agencies and the other allows the agencies to remain if they "pay to play," handing over $1.7 billion in revenue to the state this year and making smaller payments in perpetuity. ..

EasyConnect II explored the introduction and integration of multi-modal transportation services, employing both traditional and innovative technologies, at the Pleasant Hill Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) District station during the initial construction phase of the Contra Costa Centre Transit Village, a transit-oriented development, in the San Francisco Bay Area....Read On

Suppose a builder pitches a 100-condominium development in Richmond within 1,000 feet of Interstate 80. Under proposed air-quality guidelines, for the first time in the U.S., if extra cancer risk meets a specific threshold, the developer would be told to study the potential health effects of the freeway pollution on the people who would live in the homes.....Read On

Smart growth policy strategies attempt to control increasing auto travel, congestion, and vehicle emissions by redirecting new development into communities with a high-intensity mix of shopping, jobs, and housing that is served by high-quality modal alternatives to single occupant vehicles. The integration of innovative technologies with traditional modal options in transit-oriented developments (TODs) may be the key to providing the kind of high-quality transit service that can effectively compete with the automobile in suburban transit corridors. A major challenge, however, of such an integration strategy is the facilitation of a well-designed and seamless multi-modal connection infrastructure – both informational and physical. EasyConnect II explored the introduction and integration of multi-modal transportation services, both traditional and innovative technologies, at the Pleasant Hill Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) District station during the initial construction phase of the…

THE MASSIVE construction project on Treat Boulevard that obscures the Pleasant Hill BART station will actually be completed one of these days. The sprawling expanse of yellow sheathing and black tar paper will give way to a soothing facade of earth tones and coffee colors. Perhaps as soon as March residents may be coming and going from the newest Bay Area trend in mixed-use developments, the so-called transit village....